RE: the state of the rivalry

[John Lyell <Jlyell@concentric.net>]

I have to agree  with you totally, especially on Chauncy. I would move him 
and Jones and Thomas for Nash & Ceballos before they see more of him.  We 
seriously need someone that can put the ball in the hoop, we have no 
consistent scorers.  Last night was also a good example of "You live by the 
press, you die by the press"   The Lakers beat it time after time for easy 
layups. This really won't work against most NBA teams,  and seems to tire 
your own players practicing this all week.

Anyone think with Wallace, Sabonis, Grant & Trent we could get Kelvin Cato 
from Portland to add a defensive threat in the middle ?





On Thursday, November 27, 1997 12:04 AM, KK 
[SMTP:6166kkver@umbsky.cc.umb.edu] wrote:
> The game tonight painfully reminded me why the Lakers are going to be 
contending
> for the championship for years to come, while the Celts will be very 
pleased to
> make the playoffs one of these years. The reason is simple: most of the
> Celtics'draft picks of the last several years are, at best, humble role 
players
> somewhere - the better ones, that is. Others are out of the league 
entirely. The
> Lakers' picks, on the other hand, are either budding superstars, very, 
very
> solid players, or else  have been traded for good players. The situation 
is even
> sadder in the free agent acquisition game: our most heralded acquisition 
has
> been a 7-foot boy, a slow shooting guard who, because of his height and 
his
> team's deficiencies, has been forced to play center. He, like most of his
> teammates, still hasn't figured out how to foul people so it doesn't 
become a
> three-point play. The Lakers are so good that they didn't even need their 
#1 FA
> to whip our butt. Or, maybe Shaq, true to the Celtics' Propaganda 
Minister
> Heinsohn's prediction, didn't know "what he was going to do about Travis 
Knight"
> and faked an injury?  (As an aside, Heinsohn declared tonight that 
Campbell was
> way too fat and will be "huffin'n'puffin'" before the first timeout. 
Campbell
> ended up abusing Boy Travis so much, he should've been arrested on 
child-abuse
> charges. Oh well, that's our perspicacious Tommy).
> Worst of all, our child prodigy, the kid who, as his cult members never 
tire of
> reminding us, would've been freshman in high school (or was it college?) 
again
> showed why he's being offered by Pitino to anyone willing to give up a 
pair of
> old sneakers for him. Pitino made a mistake by drafting him and he knows 
it;
> he's not gonna compound it by holding on to the kid,  if he can help it. 
The
> Billups's cult members, being diehard Celtic fans, are making up clever 
excuses
> for his, uh, somewhat pedestrian entrance into the NBA as  the #3 pick, 
hoping
> to boost the team's chances of getting something of value in the trade. 
 That's
> very crafty, guys, and I promise to keep hush-hush about it. However, 
 some,
> more astute NBA observers might point out that, for example, Kobe Bryant 
and
> Kevin Garnett (and Jermaine O'Neal and Tracy McGrady) never played a 
picosecond
> in college, but seem to be doing just fine, that lots of draftees now are
> underclassmen, and some of them are point guards, that unheralded guys 
like
> Edney and Bowen had no trouble picking up that most complex system in the 
known
> universe - Pitino's, and playing decently at point guard. Of course, 
Chauncey is
> special, and the same standards can't be applied to him. Let us hope that 
some
> naive GM will buy that theory, willing to provide those special needs for 
him
> and giving us, say, cap relief and someone who knows how to foul properly 
 in
> return. After all, the kid's a #3 pick, right?
>
> K. Kveraga
>